minor signed police citation

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familymatters

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Police issued a citation for my Grandson for carrying a can of spray paint. He is 11 years old. He was designing a sign for the owner of a restaurant. The restaurant being just a block away they walked there. He sells his graffiti art to Teeshirt stores and posters at a gallery(some going for $400.00). Someone eating at the restaurant overheard part of the conversation about graffiti and called 911, stating that my grandson and his friend were the ones that had done all the graffiti on the walls around the restaurant. Not true, they live out of town. (Restaurant owner will testify that she did not see them doing anything after they left her building)

Three patrol cars, lights on arrived, blocked off a lane of a busy intersection and handcuffed my Grandson and his friend, slammed my Grandson against the hood of the police car then put them in the patrol car. They could have just as easily parked around the corner on a quiet street. Police did not say that he was being disrespectful to them) His Mother and Aunt were on their way to check on them at the restaurant knowing what the boys were doing at all times. The police searched his back pack and seized the can of paint. The police did not interview the owner of the restaurant to verify the boys statements. The police would not let his Mother in the patrol car or be with him at any time at the police station. His father was allowed with him for a short time at the police station, then told to go back outside where all the family were standing.

My grandson received a citation under the wrong last name and it is signed at the bottom by him(a minor). Mother was present during the issuing of the citation. Is the a legal binding citation?
 
The citation is merely an acknowledgment of notice of the violation and an understanding that the person receiving the citation will take care of the matter. If the 11-year-old chooses not to go to court and wants to risk arrest for failing to appear, and mom is willing to pay for an attorney to fight the arrest on the grounds of his age, so be it. No matter the ruling on the arrest for release on citation or not, he will still have to face the consequences of his actions even if a court were to somehow rule that he can not be held accountable for his signed promise to appear.

If the state pursues the charges, then he will have to go to court (or whatever juvenile process is in place for these matters in your un-named state).

- Carl
 
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